Bluegrass Classic

Introduction

Some of the best high school basketball players in the nation descended
upon Lexington, Kentucky on Memorial weekend. The inaugural Nike
Bluegrass Classic organized by Nike and Eddie Ford attracted 39 Senior
Division (17-and-under) and 24 Junior Division (16-and-under) teams for
a weekend of seminars and basketball.

Senior Division Pool Play May 29, 1999

Statistics were provided by Dean Stoyer and the rest of the
fine Nike staff.

Team Florida 56 Charlotte Royals 55 - The leading
scorer for Team Florida was Joey Graham with 12 points. The
Charlotte Royals were led by 6-3 Scooter Sherrill with 14 points
and 6-6 Reggie Love with 10 points.

The Family 66 Coast-to-Coast 56 - The Family (Detroit)
was led by 5-11 James Thues with 15 and Ryan Hoover, a 6-4
sharp-shooter with 15. 6-2 Maurice Searight added 13 points
and 8 rebounds. Coast-to-Coast (Florida) was led by 6-3 Eddie
Starks with 14. 6-9 Bonall Colas and 6-5 Winsome Frazier
each added 11 points.

Evansville 72 Kentucky Blue 53 - Evansville won this
one with ease as 6-5 Blake English scored 21 and 6-1 Aaron Howlett
added 20 points. Kentucky Blue was led by 5-11 D.J. Moberly
with 11 points.

Bray Center 92 Southern Cal. All-Stars 89 (OT) -
Bray Center (Racine Wisconsin) won this exciting game over the Southern
Cal. team who were playing without 7-0 Tyson Chandler who will arrive
later this week. Bray Center was led by 6-6 Caron Butler with
26 points, 6-6 Barry Thompson with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and
6-8 Terry Sanders with 19 points and 10 rebounds. So. Cal.
was led by 6-11
Jemal Sampson with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Riverside Church 77 Magnolia 75 - 6-7 Zack Williams
led four Riverside players in double figures with 12 points, while Magnolia
(Mississippi) was led by 6-9 Darius Rice with 26 points and 6 rebounds.

Hampton Roads (Boo Williams) 54 Albany City (New York)
52 - The victorious Hampton Roads (Virginia) team was led by Waters
with 15 points while Albany City was led by 6-8 James Thomas with
18 points and 8 rebounds.

Alabama Select 68 Charlotte Aces 52 - Alabama Select
was led by 6-8 Anthony Vasser with 16 points, 6-7 Brandon Robinson
with 12, and Kennedy also with 12. The Charlotte Aces were
led by 6-2 Chris Meeks with 13 and 6-5 DeMarcus Cooke with
12 points.

Georgia Stars 70 St. Louis Eagles 62 - 6-7 Stephen
Thomas led the Stars with 19 points and 9 rebounds while St. Louis
was led by 6-2 Tyler Hackstadt with 20 points.

Alabama Lasers 67 Randolph Boys Club (Wisconsin) 63
- 6-6 Sidney Ball led the Lasers with 17 points while the Randolph
Boys Club was led by Aaron Shaw with 23 and Rihn Tibert with
19 points and 14 rebounds.

Illinois Warriors 73 New Jersey All-Stars 62 - The
Warriors were led by 6-9 Darius Miles with 14 points and 6-7 T.J.
Cummings with 13. The New Jersey team was led by 6-8 Ryan
Butt with 13 points and 11 rebounds. 6-3 Torrian Jones
also added 13 points.

Coast-to-Coast 92 Kentucky Blue 48 - 6-5 Winsome
Frazier led Coast-to-Coast with 17 points in a rout of Kentucky Blue.
Five other players scored in double figures for the Florida based team.
Kentucky Blue was led by 6-1 Daniel Clark with 14 points.

Arkansas Wings Red 98 Carolina Warriors 96 - Arkansas
was led by 6-5 Tim Boyd with 16 points, 5-11 Jon David Parker
and 6-1 Donnie Williams with 15 each, and 6-5 Zakee Wadoop
with 12. The Warriors were led by 6-8 Toby Smith with 32 and
6-2
Charles Taylor with 18.

Alabama Lasers 55 New Jersey Celtics 44 - 6-6 Sidney
Ball and 5-10 Chris Pride led the Lasers with 11 and 12 points
respectively. The Celtics made up of St. Patrick players were led
by 5-10 Terrell Prince with 13 points.

The Family 61 Evansville 58 - The Family was led
by 6-11 Darius Manciel with 16, 6-5 Ricky Paulding with 14,
and 5-11 James Thues added 12 in this closely contested game.
Evansville was paced by Blake English with 15 and 6-1 Matt Moore
with 13.

Team Florida 74 Bray Center 71 - Earnest Crumbley
scored 14 points and led Team Florida to a big win over the Bray Center.
Caron
Butler dominated inside to score 27 for the Bray Center.

Albany City 72 Memphis YMCA 66 - Albany City was
led by their two-pronged attack of 6-8 James Thomas with 29 points
and 15 rebounds, and 6-6 Dave Martin with 20 points. Memphis
was led in scoring by 6-3 Earnest Shelton with 23.

Shreveport 64 Hampton Roads 53 - Chevis Brimmer
led the victors with 17 while Hampton Roads was led by 6-5 Johnnie Story
with 16 points.

Riverside Church 63 Alabama Select 40 - Terrance
Watkins and Zack Williams led Riverside with 12 and 10 points
respectively for an easy win over Alabama. Alabama was led by Collins
with 8 points.

Magnolia 89 New Jersey Celtics 50 - 5-11 James
Thomas scored 20 to lead a balanced Magnolia attack to rout the Celtics.
6-9 Darius Rice, who is rapidly making a name for himself, added
15 points and 9 rebounds. The Celtics were led by 6-1 Walter Price
with 24 points.

Second Round

The Family 52 Alabama Select 42 - The Family
was led by the inside-outside combination of Arthur Johnson with
11 points and 8 rebounds and James Thues with 14 points. Alabama
was led by Kennedy with 14 points and 6-2 Brandon Nicholas
with 12.

Howard Pulley Blue 68 Illinois Warriors 54 - This
game was considered a surprise to some as Howard Pulley dispatched Illinois
behind a balanced attack led by 6-1 Jake Sullivan and 6-0 Jerry
Webb with 14 each. The Warriors were led by one of the top seniors-to-be
in the nation, Darius Miles, with 18 points and 12 boards.

Riverside Church 66 Portland Legends 61 - Riverside
was led by 6-8 Kyle Cuffe with 24 and Terrance Watkins with
13. Portland was paced by 5-11 Aaron Miles with 15 and 6-6
Boomer
Brazzle with 12.

Houston Hoops 88 Magnolia 73 - Houston was led in
scoring by 6-2 Carlos Hurt with 21 points. 6-1 Trayvean
Scott and 6-4 Marcus Spears each contributed 15 points.
The future should be bright for Southern Lab High School in Louisiana as
four members of the Houston Hoops attend Southern Lab. The players
are Trayvean Scott, Marcus Spears, Nick Anderson,
and 6-6 Roderick Ambrose. Magnolia was led in scoring by 6-9
Darius
Rice with 19 points.

Shreveport 52 Houston Jaguars 51 - Shreveport was
led by 6-0 Chevis Brimmer with 15 points and 6-7 Reggie Rambo
with 13. Houston was led by their fine point guard Taliek Brown
with 19 points.

Coast-to-Coast 64 Team Florida 57 - Coast-to-Coast
prevailed in this all-Florida game and was led by 6-7 Frank Bennett
with 17 points and 7 rebounds. 6-5 Winsome Frazier chipped
in with 16 points. Team FLorida was led by Earnest Crumbley
with 12 points and Stanley Jackson with 11.

Fourth Place Games

The following four games were fourth place games, matching teams that did
not advance to the single elimination tournament.

Senior Division Single Elimination Tournament May 31,
1999

May 31, 1999 - The closing day of the three-day Nike Bluegrass Classic
featured the Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Championship tournament games.

Quarterfinals

Bloomington Red 57 The Family 55 - Bloomington prevailed
in an exciting game worthy of championship billing. Leading the scoring
for Bloomington were 5-11 Brody Boyd with 16 points and Jared
Jeffries with 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Family was led again
by their inside-outside combination of Arthur Johnson with 14 points
and 9 rebounds and James Thues with 11 points.

Riverside Church 70 Howard Pulley Blue 60 - Riverside
was led by Terrance Watkins with 17 points and 6-8 Kyle Cuffe
with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Howard Pulley was led by 6-1
Jake
Sullivan with 19 points.

Houston Hoops 84 Del Val 70 - Houston continued their
impressive tournament run and was led by 6-2 Carlos Hurt with 21,
6-1 Trayvean Scott with 17, and 6-4 Marcus Spears with 16.
Del Val was led by their guard combination Rashaad Carruth with
24 and Dajuan Wagner with 23.

Coast-to-Coast 69 Shreveport 49 - Coast-to-Coast
was led by Winsome Frazier with 24 and Eddie Starks with
21. Reggie Rambo led Shreveport with 16 points.

Semifinals

Bloomington Red 75 Riverside Church 70 - The story in
this game was 6-1 Chris Thomas who scored 34 points and hit 14 of
17 free throws for the game. Riverside was led by 6-7 Zack Williams
with 17. 6-1 Omar Cook, 6-1 Michael Boynton, and 6-8
Kyle
Cuffe each added 12 points. Cook, the super point guard
for Riverside, hit four timely three pointers to keep the game close.

Houston Hoops 70 Coast-to-Coast 67 - Houston held
on to secure a hard-earned victory over a very scrappy Coast-to-Coast team.
6-2 Carlos Hurt led Houston with 21 and 6-4 wide body Marcus
Spears used his bulk and quickness to add 18. 6-3 Eddie Starks
capped a fine tournament with a 27 point performance for Coast-to-Coast.

Championship Game

Bloomington Red 71 Houston Hoops 55 - Bloomington used
their inside game to wear down Houston to claim the Bluegrass Classic Championship.
6-10 Jared Jeffries led Bloomington with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
6-7 Sean Kline tallied 16 points and 5-11 Brody Boyd added
18. 6-2 Carlos Hurt led Houston with 21 points. Bloomington
managed to neutralize Houston's inside game of Nick Anderson and
Marcus
Spears as they were held to 13 and 8 points respectively.

Selected Tournament Round Scoring Averages

Caron Butler

Bray Center (Racine WI)

31.0

1 game

Dajuan Wagner

Del Val Hoops (NJ)

30.0

3 games

Aaron Brothers

Evansville AAU (IN)

27.0

1 game

Carlos Hurt

Houston Hoops

23.0

5 games

Jake Sullivan

Howard Pulley Blue

22.0

3 games

Darius Rice

Illinois Warriors

22.0

2 games

Taliek Brown

Houston Jaguars

18.0

2 games

Winsome Frazier

Coast-to-Coast (FL)

17.0

4 games

Darius Rice

Magnolia Stars (MI)

17.0

2 games

Jared Jeffries

Bloomington Red (IN)

16.0

5 games

Kyle Cuffe

Riverside Church (NY)

16.0

3 games

David Harrison

Tennessee Travelers

16.0

2 games

Reggie Rambo

Shreveport/Bossier (LA)

15.0

3 games

Chris Thomas

Bloomington Red (IN)

14.0

5 games

Conclusion

This was an excellent weekend of basketball with super players and some
excellent teams. Many thanks to Nike and Eddie Ford. A special
note of appreciation to Dean Stoyer of Nike who did an excellent job of
providing stats and updates. I probably missed some of the pool games
but I collected all available information. I apologize for not covering
the Junior Division, but it was impossible to be everywhere. Also,
the spelling of some names may be incorrect as they appeared differently
in different reports.

Some players exceeded their hype, some lived up to their ranking, and
some, at least for this weekend, fell below expectations. However,
there always seems to be another camp or event every weekend and a new
set of heroes to be crowned.

Three players I particularly enjoyed watching this weekend were Omar
Cook, Jared Jeffries, and Darius Miles. Omar
Cook, the 6-1 point guard for Riverside Church, is a true point guard.
Omar is one of the most accurate bounce passers I have ever seen and will
get the ball to an open teammate. 6-10 Jared Jeffries from
the champion Bloomington Red squad is a good rebounder and can score inside
or out. Jared seems to operate better inside and handles the ball
well for a man his size. 6-9 Darius Miles of the Illinois
Warriors lived up to his reputation. Darius is extremely quick, handles
the ball well, and can take over a game at any moment. The sky appears
to be the limit for these three as well as for a number of players I saw
this weekend.